Public employee unions respond to Oregon budget proposal
Oregon state Sen. Richard Devlin
and state Rep. Peter Buckley, Demo-
cratic co-chairs of the Joint Committee
on Ways and Means, released their
budget for the 2013-15 biennium on
March 4. The co-chairs’ $16.5 billion
budget — which serves as a starting
point for negotiations among lawmak-
ers — calls for $6.55 billion in K-12 ed-
ucation spending and $455 million in
Public Employee Retirement System
(PERS) cuts, leaves nearly $600 mil-
lion in ‘rainy day’ funds untouched, and
ignores any new revenue options.
Public employee unions — includ-
ing the Oregon Education Association,
Service Employees International Union
Local 503, Oregon AFSCME Council
75, the Oregon State Fire Fighters
Council, American Federation of
Teachers-Oregon, the Oregon School
Employees Association, and the Asso-
ciation of Oregon Faculties — released
this joint response:
“Oregon’s educators, front-line,
public safety and health care workers
recognize that our economy continues
to struggle as a result of the recent eco-
nomic collapse. We fully appreciate the
co-chairs faced tough choices in putting
together a budget that ensures that we
can fund services that middle-class
families and vulnerable Oregonians
rely on.
Research and election results clearly
show that Oregonians want legislators
to prioritize schools, health care, pub-
lic safety and services to seniors and the
vulnerable. They also expect a shared
sacrifice and want corporations and the
wealthy to pay their fair share.
We are disappointed that the co-
chairs’ proposed budget does not call
upon corporations and the wealthiest
Oregonians, who have enjoyed almost
all of the benefit of the economic re-
covery, to do their part in funding
schools, senior services and other vital
programs. It’s unfair and irresponsible
to balance the budget on the backs of
working Oregonians and on those who
rely on services. Legislators should
make sure that those who’ve prospered
even through this economic crisis are
paying their fair share.
It is extremely troubling that the co-
chairs’ budget breaks a promise to hard-
working, middle class Oregonians and
retirees on a fixed income. At the same
time, the Legislature recently bent over
backwards — even calling an emer-
gency session — to be able to promise
special treatment to profitable corpora-
tions like Nike.
The PERS proposal included in the
co-chairs’ budget is very similar to a
2003 proposal that was ruled unconsti-
tutional. This means that these dollars
will likely never make it into Oregon’s
classrooms or to other valuable pro-
grams.
Making matters worse, the COLA
(cost of living adjustment) proposal
will cost the state millions of dollars to
litigate, and once this proposal is found
to be illegal — again — the Legislature
would have to rebalance the budget and
slash funding for schools, health and
senior care, and public safety, in the
middle of the biennium.
It’s important to remember that
every public employee group — teach-
ers, public safety, health care and other
front-line workers — has taken pay
cuts and furloughs and is paying more
out of pocket for health insurance. They
are also doing more with less. Class
sizes are bigger. Caseloads are larger.
Public employees, like all middle-class
Oregonians, are making sacrifices. Un-
fortunately, the co-chairs’ budget con-
tinues to ask working and middle-class
families and the vulnerable to carry all
of the burden.
This budget appears to be another
way of scapegoating those with a target
on their back: public employees. We
are now seeing the kinds of demoniza-
tion of public employees here in Ore-
gon that were the foundation for what
happened in Wisconsin, Michigan, and
Ohio, where middle-class workers’
voices have been silenced. We’ve seen
clear evidence of this trend through
continued attacks on promised pen-
sions, and petitioners are now on the
street with an initiative to put right-to-
work on Oregon’s ballot.
We believe that we can do better.
The budget can be balanced in a way
that is fair, sustainable and prioritizes
what Oregonians value. We call on our
lawmakers to consider the following:
• Cut out-of-control tax breaks
and make sure everyone pays their
fair share. Oregon’s corporate tax rate
is tied for the lowest in the nation, and
over the next two years, Oregon is ex-
pected to give away more than $36 bil-
lion in tax breaks. We need to do more
to close loopholes and ask those with
the ability to pay to invest more before
we ask teachers, front-line workers and
retirees on fixed incomes to shoulder
even more of the burden.
• Make every dollar count. A re-
port released by a broad coalition of 10
organizations identified $278 million
in savings at state agencies by increas-
ing efficiencies and cracking down on
tax cheats. These recommendations
should be exhaustively examined be-
fore seniors and the vulnerable face
cuts to services or attacks on their pen-
sions.
• Pursue common sense, legal ap-
proaches to PERS. Wall Street mis-
deeds crashed our economy and signif-
icantly harmed PERS financial health.
We are now faced with having to clean
up the mess made by bad-behaving in-
vestment banks and others who abused
our financial system. We should strive
to recoup losses from fraud caused by
Wall Street. The treasurer and attorney
general have already recovered some of
the money PERS was defrauded and
they should continue down this path.
Additionally, in bringing certain fi-
nancial and investment functions under
the authority of the state treasurer, we
can keep a closer watch on how Ore-
gon’s tax dollars are invested, and we
can significantly reduce wasteful
spending on unnecessary fees to out-of-
state corporations who don’t have any
ties to Oregon.
We can also realize substantial sav-
ings by having the PERS Board recap-
ture the loss from the malevolence of
Wall Street in 2008 over a longer pe-
riod of time to help smooth the dra-
matic impact on schools, seniors and
families.
• It’s raining now. Our economy is
slowly recovering from Wall Street’s il-
legal and irresponsible actions; we
should use our reserves for the purpose
for which they are intended: preserv-
ing services when Oregonians need
them most.
There is a better way forward. Be-
fore a single retiree has the rug pulled
out from under her in her golden years,
we need to make sure that the wealthy
and every corporation pays their fair
share. Before our teachers, firefighters
and personal support workers are asked
to do more with less, we need to make
sure that our leaders are being respon-
sible and efficient with our tax dollars.
It may be a challenge, but it’s what Ore-
gonians expect from their leaders.”
OHSU Local 328, AFSCME’s largest, buys nearby storefront
AFSCME Local 328 — Oregon
AFSCME’s largest local — has pur-
chased its own office space, a corner
storefront at 4006 SW Barbur Boule-
vard, which is near where members
work. Local 328’s 5,500 members are
employed at Oregon Health and Sci-
ence University (OHSU), at its campus
and hospital on “Pill Hill” as well as
facilities downtown and in Portland’s
South Waterfront neighborhood.
Local 328 formerly rented an office,
but was asked to leave when the owner
had other plans for the space. The local
used its contract defense (strike) fund
to make the purchase.
Purchased last August for
$620,000, the 1949 building includes
1,200 square feet of office space for the
use of the Oregon AFSCME staff rep-
resentatives who are assigned to the
Local: Frank Vehafric, Diane Lovell
and Val Andreas. They moved in at the
end of January into the space, the for-
mer location of Rose City Hearing
Aids. The building also includes an ad-
jacent office where Farmers Insurance
is a tenant, as well as a basement that is
being remodeled into a 2,000-square-
foot three-bedroom apartment. Ve-
hafric said rents from the two tenants
are expected to cover the monthly
mortgage.
Calling 2-1-1 can
be a lifesaver
It’s not as well known as the 9-1-1
emergency line, but for thousands of
Oregonians, calling 2-1-1 can be a life-
saver. 2-1-1 is an easy to remember
telephone number that connects callers
to information about critical health and
human services available in their com-
munities. In Oregon, 2-1-1 is run by
211info, in partnership with United
Way. In addition to the phone number,
it can be accessed at www.211info. org.
MARCH 15, 2013
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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